The state has jettisoned "Come See For Yourself," its second attempt at a tagline in less than a year. It was the product of a statewide contest set up by then-acting Gov. Richard J. Codey last fall, after he rejected a consultant's offering: "We'll Win You Over."

State tourism officials said legal issues led them to scrap the latest slogan, explaining that West Virginia and other states previously used "Come See For Yourself."

"We are proceeding without the slogan. We will revisit the next steps at the end of the year," Karen Wolfe, a spokeswoman for the state Commerce, Economic Growth and Tourism Commission, told The Press of Atlantic City for Saturday editions.

Codey, now state Senate president, dismissed "We'll Win You Over" because he said it reminded him too much of when he was single and asked girls out on a date.

"Come See For Yourself" was the top choice among more than 11,000 telephone and online votes cast by residents for five finalist entries in the contest. Codey unveiled the slogan with great fanfare in January, saying the Garden State's catch phrase "should hint at our true beauty."

But at an annual tourism conference in Cape May County last month, the slogan was absent from all state promotional materials. The slogan is also missing from this year's tourism television commercials, featuring a song by rocker Jon Bon Jovi.

Tourism officials said they won't pick from any of the four other finalists: "Love at First Sight," "The Real Deal," "The Best Kept Secret" or "Expect the Unexpected."

It might be good to tell the ad agencies not to even consider slogans that are half-hearted, or that essentially say "the state is really ok, even though you might think it sucks." Go back to the old "NJ & You Perfect Together".

"Come See For Yourself" was the top choice among more than 11,000 telephone and online votes cast by residents for five finalist entries in the contest.

Apparently there are only 11,000 people in the whole state who care about having a slogan at all, and they voted for the one they wanted, so let them have it. I think it's stupid too, but it's the one they picked.

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - New Jersey announced a new tourism slogan on Thursday in an effort to shrug off the state's grim reputation for traffic jams, mobsters and toxic waste dumps.

"New Jersey: Come See for Yourself," was the winning entry in a statewide contest that attracted some 7,800 entries. The public was asked for suggestions after Acting Gov. Richard Codey rejected "New Jersey: We'll Win You Over" -- a slogan devised by an image consultant at the cost of $260,000 -- as too negative.

State officials earlier rejected sardonic entries including: "Come Out to New Jersey: It's Not as Bad as it Smells" and "New Jersey: Hey, at Least it's not West Virginia."

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